This invention relates to electrochemical processes and apparatus and more particularly is concerned with such processes and apparatus employing circulating bed electrodes.
Circulating bed electrodes are particularly valuable for use as the cathode in metal electrodeposition reactions. Apparatus and processes involving or capable of operating with circulating bed electrodes are described and claimed in our British Pat. Nos. 1,485,301; 1,483,464; 1,497,543; and 1,481,663; and in our U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,974,049; 3,981,787; 3,945,892; 4,073,707; and 4,065,375.
A circulating bed electrode consists of a bed of electroconductive particles which are caused to circulate within a predetermined region of an electrode compartment or cell; it is particularly desirable for the circulation pattern to be stable. A circulating bed electrode differs from a fluidised bed electrode in that particles in the latter do not follow a systematic circulation pattern, but move randomly within the bed. Circulating bed electrodes may be used in electrosynthesis and electrodeposition reactions.